Roane County’s Koltyn Starcher (33) carries the ball during Saturday’s game against Greenbrier West. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

SPENCER — Greenbrier West struck first here Saturday night in the Ratliff Insurance Kickoff Classic, but it was all Roane County after that as head coach Paul Burdette’s program rolled to a 67-16 victory that featured a 51-8 halftime bulge.

Gabe Dever recorded a safety at 3:11 of the third for the lone points of the quarter as Raider teammate Evan Greathouse added TD runs of 5 and 43 yards to account for the final scoring aside from Mathew Conley’s two-point conversion run.

“Very happy with what we did. We had to get them settled down after Greenbrier West’s first drive,” admitted coach Burdette, who watched his rushing attack finish with 484 stripes on 44 attempts. “They were doing some things we hadn’t seen and I told them coming off the field after the touchdown, we just have to settle down and play ball. Then we had a really good opening drive on offense and things just started rolling after that, and then continued to get better and better. Obviously liked what I seen on the field.

“Got to watch some film and grade it out and see how we did there. We had some questions. Maybe some other people had some questions. You replace your whole backfield other than your quarterback and you replace linebackers on defense and some down guys on both sides of the ball, so what are we going to do? Obviously, I’m not satisfied. I told the guys don’t be satisfied. We’re happy with what happened here tonight and definitely stuff to build on, and things to get better at. Really good first game.”

Colton Dunbar, who led the visitors with 69 rushing yards on 10 attempts as the quarterback, had a 32-yard jaunt to open the game, which was followed by Ben Butler’s 29-yard touchdown run. Dunbar added the conversion run and it was 8-0 Cavs just 20 seconds in. GWHS didn’t score again until late in the fourth via an Elijah McDaniel 86-yard kickoff return that was followed by Hayden Holliday’s run for two.

Roane County's Brodey Proctor, who had 100 yards on three carries, follows lead blocker Koltyn Starcher during Saturday’s game against Greenbrier West. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

After allowing 61 yards on the opening drive, the Raiders’ defensive unit only allowed 49 stripes the rest of the way.

Brodey Proctor’s ensuing 58-yard kickoff return put the Raiders near the red zone and QB Jacob Greathouse scored from the 1, but the try for two failed.

GWHS was forced to punt, but the Raiders had a quick 85-yard scoring march that was capped by the first of three Koltyn Starcher TD bursts. His 3-yard score and ensuing conversion run at 3:17 of the first made it 14-6 and put the Raiders in front to stay.

The Raiders led 30-6 after one as they added two more six-pointers.

Braxton Browning stripped Dunbar and returned it 25 yards for a score. Proctor added the conversion run and then broke off a 59-yard dart to paydirt where he took a sweep right and cut toward the sideline only to cut on a dime, go back toward the middle of the field and then break it back out toward the Raider sideline. Javon LeTourneau’s two-point conversion followed.

Roane County running back Javon LeTourneau makes a cut during Saturday's 67-16 victory versus Greenbrier West. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Coach talks about it all the time, just bench press the D-tackle and throw him inside,” said the senior Browning. “Someone hit him and I just took the ball from him. It felt like it was like 100 yards.

“I haven’t played running back since like little league. Little Debbie’s too good. It feels good to finally start the season and see our hard work payoff on the scoreboard, and we worked as one.”

Things didn’t get any better for the Cavs, who play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Summers County, as the Raiders got TD runs of 12 and 51 yards from Starcher as well as a 39-yard TD by LeTourneau. Cooper Greathouse had a two-point reception from Jacob Greathouse, who also converted an extra point that hit the crossbar and flopped over.

Proctor (3-100), Starcher (7-97), Evan Greathouse (7-84), LeTourneau (4-61) and Garrett Brabham (4-50) led the rushing attack.

“Braxton’s a kid that’s worked so hard for four years and he’s getting his time on the field. Not a better guy that could’ve done it. Just happy for him,” added coach Burdette, whose team has a week off before playing host to Clay County. “Our backs, we got good speed. We got a mixture of speed and power. Javon and Brodey are both very hard to get ahold of and Koltyn and Garrett, and Garrett’s got good speed and power, and then Koltyn is just kind of a horse downhill.

Roane County's Paul Burdette talks with Garrett Brabham on the sidelines during Saturday’s game against Greenbrier West. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Just try to work them all around and then you throw Jake in. We didn’t get him in as much tonight as we needed to, or wanted to, but things kind of got started rolling. All those guys are dangerous and I think the guys upfront did a good job.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com